Saints are ‘gifting teams a foothold’

Manager doesn’t hold back after Perth men suffer another home loss

ST JOHNSTONE 1 PARTICK THISTLE 3

There were a few excuses there if Tommy Wright wanted to use them.

St Johnstone were playing against a Partick Thistle team match-sharpened with two competitive contests, while his own side had been without a game for a month.

There was a late change to the starting line-up when his left-back couldn’t make the warm-up and he didn’t have another specialist in that position to call on.

He had a player making his first appearance since returning from a loan spell at Hartlepool.

He had three key men out through suspension.

He had a goal chalked off with no obvious cause.

And his new signing, who had won a penalty after coming on as a substitute and generally looked the part, was trudging back off the pitch injured when his team were building up a bit of momentum.

But Wright wasn’t in the mood for excuses on Saturday evening. Straws were not being clutched. Instead, home truths were being told. “I think when people don’t learn from their mistakes then I have to sort it out,” said Wright after the game.

“It’s my responsibility.

“So there will be a few in there who won’t be involved on Monday (against Albion Rovers) because I’ve had enough of people starting games like that.

“It’s all right being up for it in the dressing room but we can’t get past 15 minutes without conceding a goal.

“We’re gifting too many goals and gifting teams a foothold in the game.

“We take a throw-in, give it straight to them and they’ve got a chance within about 30 seconds. That’s not acceptable. “We’re on the back foot. “We’re the home team and want to get people behind us and chase teams down.

“I’ve maybe been too loyal to too many for too long.

“Certainly there will be a lot of changes made for Monday night.

“People are making bad decisions. Not that you’d like to see me in a kit, but I could go out in goals and still make the right decisions. Whether I would get there or not is another thing.

“There are quite a few just not doing the basics at the minute, particularly at home.

“I don’t know why it’s so different away from home.

“I think it’s time for me to take the gloves off.

“I’m not scared to make changes because ultimately it’s down to me.”

Wright decided not to go into the dressing room after the defeat.

“It’s probably the first time I’ve ever done that,” he reflected.

“It will wait.

“I don’t need to say anything. When the team-sheet goes up tomorrow that will say it all. Then it’s about how people respond to that.

“People need to respond in a positive manner.

“I’ve always said that if you’re in the first team squad you need to be ready to step up.

“In saying that, we do need help. We do need players in. But there’s only four days left. We’re leaving it right to the last minute to bring players in.

“We’ve got four or five options but every manager will tell you that. The next three or four days will tell a tale.”

For Saints fans who have seen the last eight games Saints have failed to win at Mcdiarmid there would indeed have been depressing familiarities.

The warning signs were there when they coughed up possession on their right and Conor Sammon and Niall Keown somehow managed to not score from a Chris Erskine cross.

The opener did come from that area, though. Miles Storey’s strong running was rewarded with Steven Lawless finishing off.

David Wotherspoon’s free-kick cross two minutes later that turned into a shot which sneaked in at the far post was disallowed, presumably for pushing and pulling that nobody else in the ground had noticed.

Sammon finished from close range in the second half to make it 2-0 before Tomas Cerny wiping out David Mcmillan earned Saints a penalty that Liam Craig dispatched but inflicted a hamstring injury on the former Dundalk man.

Chris Kane came close but, with numbers committed forward, Ryan Edwards broke away for an injury-time clincher.

Meanwhile, one of those who didn’t even play, Scott Tanser, was also in Wright’s bad books on Saturday.

He said: “Tanser couldn’t make the warm-up. I don’t know why. So that’s not pleased me. I’ll have to have a word with him about that.

“Communication from player to medical team hasn’t been what it should have in that instance.

“He’s probably better not seeing me tonight.”

enicolson@thecourier.co.uk

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I’ve maybe been too loyal totoomanyfortoo long. TOMMY WRIGHT

Picture: SNS. Steven Lawless opens the scoring for Partick Thistle.